Lower back pain in humans is a common and persistent ailment that is difficult to treat effectively. Lower back pain is often the result of a herniated disc, a degenerative disc disease, osteoporosis, arthritis, strained or sprained muscles and ligaments, muscle spasms or other causes.
Unfortunately, a reliable and effective treatment method for quickly and reliably curing and treating lower back pain does not exist. The most common methods of treating human lower back pain include extended periods of immobilization of the back, complete bed rest or resting of the back on a hard flat surface, bed traction and performing light exercises involving the back muscles.
Exercise is extremely beneficial for the human back, especially for treating any kind of lumbar condition, whether it is a bulging disc, herniated disc, non-surgical lumbar condition or other ailment. Simple exercises of the lumbar and spine muscle groups have a positive affect on the lumbar spine, not only for increasing range of motion but also to strengthen the area so one can endure virtually any medical condition or treatment at that area.
Conventional exercise machines provided for exercising the back and possibly treating lower back pain are typically large machines which are expensive and require a great deal of space for a person to use. In addition, the conventional machines are usually very heavy and cumbersome so that a person with an injured back may not be able to move these machines to a desired position easily and without further injuring the back muscles.
Most conventional back exercising and strengthening devices require a person to lie on their back or stomach or be seated in an upright position on a seat where the person is restrained by belts or other fastening devices. Some of these conventional machines and methods are uncomfortable for the user because of the restraints imposed on the person's body, especially if the user's back is injured. In addition, other conventional methods and machines are difficult for a user to access and mount and dismount, which creates problems especially for those persons having back injuries.
As is well known, if a muscle of the human body is strained in a manner in which it is not accustomed to, the muscle may be damaged, thereby causing pain and discomfort. The muscles of the human body associated with the lumbar and truncal regions are particularly vulnerable to such damage in part because of a natural difficulty in exercising these muscles of the body in an effective manner. It seems most natural to exercise these muscles through bending or stretching exercises while in a standing or sitting position. Yet when a person's back is in a generally vertical orientation relative to the ground or surface upon which the person is standing, gravity introduces an axial loading on the spinal joints that inhibits the full motion of the paraspinous muscles, thereby limiting the effectiveness of exercising these muscles while in a vertical orientation. Proper exercising of the back muscles can be accomplished most readily only when a person is in a substantially horizontal orientation relative to the ground or a supporting surface.
Given the natural difficulty in exercising the lower spinal muscles, several devices have been designed to facilitate exercising of this area. These devices usually require a person to stand or sit in an essentially vertical position during use and exercising, thereby forcing the user to overcome axial loading caused by gravity in order to fully extend and exercise their paraspinous muscles. This orientation during exercise increases the difficulty of the exercises and reduces the efficacy of the exercises and results achieved.